The election of Donald Trump, whose appeal to voters is based on magical thinking, paves the way for the rise of a police state unlike anything seen in American history. Its fangs will appear the moment Trump’s base realizes it has been betrayed.

Genuine conservatives aren't wrong to fret, but they seem unwilling or unable to grasp the clearest evidence that Trump is channeling toxic currents from the past -- namely, his appeals to racial bigotry, his truculent attitude toward other nations and his extremist "solution" to illegal immigration.
Genuine conservatives aren't wrong to fret, but they seem unwilling or unable to grasp the clearest evidence that Trump is channeling toxic currents from the past -- namely, his appeals to racial bigotry, his truculent attitude toward other nations and his extremist "solution" to illegal immigration.

As clashes between government forces and protesters in Venezuela continued through the weekend, civilians took sides in rival marches held Saturday, each pointing to the other as the catalyst of the country's recent wave of unrest.

In a worrisome poll conducted in the United Kingdom, a whopping 48 percent of respondents said they would consider supporting a new anti-immigration nationalist party that was void of the violence and fascist imagery usually associated with the far right.

The Movimento Sociale-Fiamma Tricolore party in Italy has offered to pay $1,940 to parents who name their children after Benito Mussolini or his wife Rachele. The "purely casual" name game is meant to address low birthrates and not fascist nostalgia, according to the far-right party. Sure.

Hollywood stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney and Nicole Kidman are now personae non gratae in Rome, according to the Italian capital's new mayor, Gianni Alemanno, a former fascist who thinks American stars shouldn't be hyped at Rome's annual film festival at the expense of Italian actors and directors.

Silvio Berlusconi, billionaire, media mogul and former prime minister of Italy, is calling for voters to give him a substantial majority of parliament seats as he vies a third time for the country's most powerful office. The elections, to be held Sunday and Monday, will decide whether the country is led by a center-left coalition or Berlusconi's right-wing "Freedom Folks."

King Juan Carlos of Spain had apparently had enough of Hugo Chavez when he said to the Venezuelan president: "Why don't you shut up?" The public scolding took place at the 22-nation Ibero-American summit in Santiago, Chile, and was precipitated by Chavez's attempts to paint former Spanish prime minister and Bush supporter Jose Maria Aznar as a fascist, which is a touchy term to use in front of the man who ended nearly four decades of fascist rule.

Russian authorities have arrested a student for allegedly posting a video of the apparent execution of two men by a neo-Nazi group, although authorities still don't know who recorded the video or carried out the attack.